Justin Birdsong: DB · Georgia Southern · #18.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Justin Birdsong
Moves between deep coverage and the slot. Played for three head coaches at Georgia Southern: Chad Lunsford, Kevin Whitley and Clay Helton. On tape: 7 tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss against Marshall, Week 12, 2022.
Play style
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
44 tackles. 3 passes defended. 1 interception. 0.5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
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| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Georgia Southern | 44 | 23 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 3 | 1 |
| 2021 | Georgia Southern | 50 | 28 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 2 | -- |
| 2020 | Georgia Southern | 19 | 17 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 1 | 3 |
| 2019 | Georgia Southern | 6 | 5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- |
| 2018 | Georgia Southern | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | -- |
| Career | 121 | 75 | 6.0 | 0.5 | 7 | 4 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2022 season · 11 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 59-7vs Morgan State | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 45-42@ Nebraska | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | L 21-35@ UAB | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 34-23vs Ball State | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Wk 5 | L 30-34@ Coastal Carolina | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 33-41@ Georgia State | 7 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 7 tackles |
| Wk 8 | W 28-23@ Old Dominion | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 31-38vs South Alabama | 5 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 17-36@ Louisiana | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 10-23vs Marshall | 7 | 4 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 51-48vs App State | 4 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Total | 44 | 23 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1 | 3 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
7%3 pass breakupsInterceptions
1interceptionsTackle volume
44tackles this seasonTFL rate
1%0 TFL44 tackles · 0.5 for loss · 3 pass breakups · 1 interception.
Splits · Per-game
2022 season · 11 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 4.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.6 |
| Road6g | 3.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 3.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 4.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Clay Helton
Pass share
62.4%
610 pass / 367 run
Plays / game
75.2
13 games
Team sack rate
1.1%
614 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Pass-heavy, fast tempo.
Player standing · 2022
About as many tackles a game as a typical FBS defensive back who plays every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #288 at the position.
How it ended
Five seasons at Georgia Southern, 121 tackles — the college career is complete.
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
Coaching lineage · 2018–2022
3 coachesPlayed under 3 different head coaches: Chad Lunsford, Kevin Whitley, and Clay Helton. Multi-era developmental context.
